Forums >General Running>What's the deal with barefoot and barefoot-ish running?
and smell like feet
And you can quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. Groucho Marx
Rob
in Danskos.
this ad generator's good! I got a bunch of shoes that look like feet on my screen!
This was my avatar here for a long long time.
I recently read an article that pretty objectively presented the theories surrounding barefoot running, and I felt like I had some comments to make and questions to pose. This website won't allow me to post the link. I'm not really sure why.
I would actually like to see the actual source if you can somehow post it??? I don't run barefoot; I never run barefoot or in Vibram--I might actually do some barefoot running as an exercise as you have suggested--but I'm one of those anti high-tech bulky inflexible shoes and I do practice minimalistic shoes. I know what works for me and should work for most people and I don't have to read or watch YouTube to see how much better for you it is; for one, there are lot of misinformation out there any way but I am very interested in what people are thinking and saying. What you said about "objectively presented" caught my attention but what you followed with don't quite seem to support your comment about "objectively presented". Anybody who would come out and says: "hunters didn't wear shoes=they ran faster" therefore "not wearing shoes makes you run faster" doesn't sound too "objective" to me; in fact, it sounds too "forceful reasoning".
I see a lot of "junk" on internet; I see a lot of fauls information particularly on barefoot running on YouTube as well. I saw these young man and a woman, talking into their own hand-held video camera (that's fine, not everybody has a studio and stuff) and then showing their own slow-motion image of them running barefoot and/or in Vibram. To me, the whole idea--maybe not the "whole" but a big part at least--of barefoot running is to avoid landing hard on your heel. But these guys, running barefoot, were landing on their heel!! Now THAT is a sure way to get injured.
Your argument about heel landing vs. calf strain reminded me of an argument that came up years ago about "we have so many heart beats per life and exercising will shorten our lives because of that" argument. Well, it turned out, by exercising, even though our HR is higher DURING the exercise, gives us lowering of HR so over-all, it actually make our lives longer. Yes, calves will take more strain. But, if anything, calves are actually BUILT to take that strain. That's why we have ARCH on our feet and, if you land on your heel first, your arch won't do much for landing shock. Best way to avoid car accident is to stay home all the time and never go outside. Is it really a solution? Something's gotta give. And if I have a choice of giving up one thing; landing shock directly on my heel or initial calf strain; I'll take the latter because, well, for one, I guess all these years of minimalist shoe running had strengthened my calves; I used to get calf problems all the time when I was running in thick, bulky shoes but, now I run in minimalist shoes all the time, I never have that again. And THAT, for some reason, tells me that avoiding heel landing is a smarter choice.
I recently had a brief conversation with my ortho on the subject of barefoot running. (I'm seeing him for a torn tendon in my foot.) He's not a big fan of barefoot running as he has come to some of the conclusions you do in your post. He said he watched a video of some ortho doc who is a barefoot runner/advocate. The guy ran without then with shoes. Without shoes - forefoot strike; with shoes - heel strike. My doc's comment was that he didn't understand how someone's gait could change so dramatically just because they put on a pair of shoes. His further thoughts - this needs to be studied in-depth, given a few more years to play out, before it's stated that barefoot running is the "only way" one should be running. Some will disagree with his arguments, but I don't. With the exception of my current situation, I haven't had any physical issues re my running. Any issues have been because of things that happened to me prior to starting running. But some people swear by barefoot or minimalist running, and I figure you do what you think is best for yourself.
I recently had a brief conversation with my ortho on the subject of barefoot running. (I'm seeing him for a torn tendon in my foot.) He's not a big fan of barefoot running as he has come to some of the conclusions you do in your post. He said he watched a video of some ortho doc who is a barefoot runner/advocate. The guy ran without then with shoes. Without shoes - forefoot strike; with shoes - heel strike. My doc's comment was that he didn't understand how someone's gait could change so dramatically just because they put on a pair of shoes. His further thoughts - this needs to be studied in-depth, given a few more years to play out, before it's stated that barefoot running is the "only way" one should be running.
Some will disagree with his arguments, but I don't. With the exception of my current situation, I haven't had any physical issues re my running. Any issues have been because of things that happened to me prior to starting running. But some people swear by barefoot or minimalist running, and I figure you do what you think is best for yourself.
And this; I really wish I video-taped my daughter 8 or 9 years ago when whe was playing basketball (just about the time I "converted" to minimalist). It was so vividly obvious that, when she was running around in her thick and bulky and "I couldn't even bend" Nike basketball shoes, she was landing HARD on her heel; yet, on the sports day out in the grassy field, running around, chasing a water balloon barefoot, she was landing nicely on the ball of her feet. It was INSTANTANIOUS shift (probabl because she was still little). Anybody who had tried to run shod and barefoot on treadmill can tell you that, when throwing off your shoes, you'll almost be forced to run lightly on the ball of your foot--simply because it hurts to land on your heel! I know, YET, those young yahoos were taking themselves slow-motion, running barefoot and landing on their heel. I guess those are the people who needs some shock measuring device to tell them how much shock they are getting--just like having to have a Garmin or something to tell you how hard or easy you are running???
Fight The Future
Say Nobby, what minimalist shoes do you run in nowadays?
I need to do some 'sperimentin'
do practice minimalistic shoes. I know what works for me and should work for most people and I don't have to read or watch YouTube to
A Saucy Wench
I am thinking of giving up shaving because it's not natural, and our ancestors did not do it, did they? my grandpa did, not sure anyone before him did.
Hell my mom and sisters still dont. I'm the rebel generation
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
hippie
#artbydmcbride
Runners run
Biomimeticist
You make a list of obvious failures in the barefoot running debate. Which is why the website doesn't want its content to be debated.
The underlying story is that cultures that don't wear shoes, don't walk or run on concrete either.
What you're reading as a "technique" is the body's adaptation to running without shoes. In no way does it reflect the biomechanic processes utilized by cultures that have never worn shoes in 15,000 years...
Cultures that don't wear shoes don't walk like we do, nor do they run like we do. Which is the reason companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on fancy research labs, moronic "experts", and too numerous in numbers of sponsored athletes in this country, yet despite the expenses, none of them can beat the top Kenyan and other distance masters.
Running barefoot in a concrete culture is trading one set of injuries for another. That's the documented fact and you listed most of them.
You're bettter off viewing the barefoot fad as a promoted failure that gets you to buy books and magazine articles, only to incur a whole new set of injuries that will humiliate you into buying shoes and reading the barf that gets promoted as "proper" running techniques...
Experts said the world is flat
Experts said that man would never fly
Experts said we'd never go to the moon
Name me one of those "experts"...
History never remembers the name of experts; just the innovators who had the guts to challenge and prove the "experts" wrong
Feeling the growl again
What you're reading as a "technique" is the body's adaptation to running without shoes. In no way does it reflect the biomechanic processes utilized by cultures that have never worn shoes in 15,000 years... moronic "experts"
moronic "experts"
So cheetahs, ostriches and emus teach us proper biomechanics but people who belong to non-shoe-wearing cultures do not....interesting.
Moronic "experts"....yeah, they seem to find their way here once in awhile too.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Well if we admire fast athletes, then fact the cheetah's native habitat is Kenya, then that connection seems obvious.
As the women of Kenya and other tribes in the area created their own walking and load bearing techniques that no "expert" can answer, then I'll gladly describe them as morons...
That African pygmies have greater running economy than shod runners do leaves fact that they're biomechanically superior athletes given they hunt ostriches for food. That we have no native animals superior to them in speed is a much more logical answer than what's been stated by "experts" to explain their skills.
And if no expert can explain the above facts, then they really don't know much do they....
ELAINE: Guess what I ate.
GEORGE: An ostrich burger.
ELAINE: No. A $29,000 piece of cake. Peterman got it at The Duke Of Windsor auction. It was the most romantic thing I've ever eaten.
JERRY: How'd it taste?
ELAINE: A little stale.
JERRY: Yeah.
GEORGE (nudges Elaine with his elbow): So, uh are you sleeping with Peterman?
ELAINE (nudges George with her elbow): No. He doesn't know I ate it. In fact, he almost caught me. I have to sneak back in and even it out.
GEORGE: You know, they say ostrich has less fat, but you eat more of it.
Jerry and Elaine start to walk from the counter towards the table.
Nothing better than a moronic answer to a legitimate question.
Tool
ELAINE: Guess what I ate. GEORGE: An ostrich burger. ELAINE: No. A $29,000 piece of cake. Peterman got it at The Duke Of Windsor auction. It was the most romantic thing I've ever eaten. JERRY: How'd it taste? ELAINE: A little stale. JERRY: Yeah. GEORGE (nudges Elaine with his elbow): So, uh are you sleeping with Peterman? ELAINE (nudges George with her elbow): No. He doesn't know I ate it. In fact, he almost caught me. I have to sneak back in and even it out. GEORGE: You know, they say ostrich has less fat, but you eat more of it. Jerry and Elaine start to walk from the counter towards the table.
Ha. Made me think of the "mutton" episode, which made me think of the unwashed-hands-pizza episode. These people ate out a lot.
"If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus